After writing the letter, Tom sailed with the 1st Brigade AIF and went ashore at Anzac Cove on 25th April 1915.

An infantryman, Tom fought at Walker's Ridge, Russell's Top, Quinn's Post and other battle sites on the Gallipoli Peninsula before being wounded in the Battle of Lone Pine in August 1915.

He was evacuated to Mena Hospital in Cairo and died there on 11 March 1916.

After years of planning and waiting for the right time, my son Warrick and I followed Tom's path on a trip which was more family history journey than holiday, and was as fulfilling as it was enjoyable.

Our journey really started when we arrived at the harbour in the beautiful city of Alexandria where Tom landed with the first fleet of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), after they had sailed from Australia via Albany.

They later made the train journey south to Cairo for further training.

While we were in the region, we travelled along the North coast to El Alamein in honour of some now-deceased old friends of mine who served there in the Western Desert Campaign against Rommel's Afrika Korps.

We also tracked down the grave of Victoria Cross recipient Arthur Stanley Gurney who once lived at Day Dawn near Cue, in Western Australia. I see his memorial each time I pass through Cue on my trips to Meekatharra as a Transwa road coach driver.

Eventually arriving in Cairo - armed with Tom's letter, his war records and a photo of my great-uncle Ernest of the 5th Light Horse kneeling next to Tom's grave in 1916 - we travelled to the old part of Cairo, looking for Tom's final resting place.

After making enquiries with local people and checking various maps, we eventually found what we came for.

We located Tom's grave in a beautifully-kept Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) cemetery settled quietly within high stone walls, and somehow seemingly in another world from the dust and bustle of Coptic Cairo outside.

It was a moving and worthwhile experience and one we won't forget.

We placed bunches of beautiful local flowers on the grave and stood there, with a lot going through our minds, in the exact place Uncle Ernest did almost a hundred years ago.

We had to leave eventually of course but, now that we've found him, I doubt it's the last time a relative will visit Tom.

Warrick and I went on to visit the site of the old Mena military camp alongside the Giza Pyramids, from where Tom wrote the letter all those years ago. While still in Egypt, we visited many well-known sights, including the Sphinx, the pyramids at Saqqara and the amazing Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square.

There had been protests in the square and more were building, but we were prudent and had no problems.

We also took a four-day Nile River cruise, visiting Abu Simbel, Aswan, Luxor, the Valley of the Kings, Queen Hatshepsut's temple and, among others, Tutankhamun's tomb.

Leaving Egypt, we flew to Istanbul, picked up a hire car, hopped in the wrong side of it and drove it down the wrong side of the road to the beautiful city of nakkale, across the Dardanelles from the Gallipoli Peninsula.

I'd describe that as a very different and very exciting experience - mostly for the other road users, and now I know why I don't trust hire car drivers in Australia!

We walked the battlefields for the next two days, taking in the battle sites from Anzac Cove up to The Nek and down to Cape Helles, including all the places Tom fought and where he was wounded at Lone Pine - an amazing experience and a time for deep reflection and respect.

Most of those young men were in their twenties, and, taking into consideration what they had to do and what they sacrificed, not much more needs to be said here.

After returning to Istanbul, we flew to London for a three-day visit, purely as tourists, catching up with old and new friends there and visiting all the well-known sites: the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, a cruise on the Thames River, Churchill's War Rooms, the London Eye, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace etc.

Warrick and I came away from the journey with similar feelings: that we had fulfilled the main purpose of our journey and located Tom's grave to pay our respects. No part of the trip could top that. We had also reminded ourselves that Australia is very much a lucky country.

What we'd absorbed throughout our visit to Egypt and Gallipoli confirmed for us that life shouldn't be taken for granted, it's relatively easy these days, and it really is what we make it.

Personally, if I think I'm having a rough day, I'll remember the Anzacs and just get on with it.